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When I was started on VR and why I stayed on

Posted By: My take on your post on 2009-07-01
In Reply to: Line counting change under your noses - disgusted

I did not ask to be put on VR. I had been at my inhouse hospital job for 14 years when we were told going to VR. I loved the job and frankly, in my 50s and did not want to go out looking for another job. At that time had no idea about the companies out there, never had worked except inhouse at hospitals. After learning VR soon learned we would be outsourced to a company and most of the MTers there went with the new company rather than quit. I have done over 2000 lines per day straight and considered myself not only fast but an excellent transcriptionist. I did not jump on any band wagon, what choice was there at over 50? Most here talk about how they do not want to start a second profession, well I was one of those at that time. I did not work from home, had no clue could even do that so working at home was not a draw for me in doing VR, not even transcribing. To put all of us doing VR as traitors, well that is not so. I too used to go home at night learning transcription in tears with hubby telling me if it is that hard, just give it up but stuck it out. I learned on the job, at a hospital with over a year's training before put out making production and incentive. Yesterday I did mostly all VR and made over $175.00 for the day. Oh, you are probably saying you could make more which might be true but I am satisfied. I no longer work full time, double full time, triple full time because I have worked my time in the past and now time for part-time for me. I have earned it. I still work because I have said before, I draw my social security, have retirement check from the hospital where I worked 14 years and have my salary on top of that and love it. If the work goes out tomorrow completely, then it goes. I have had 2 jobs pulled out from underneath me in years past with over 10 years put in at each one and rebounded. If a person does not like VR, then GO somewhere else, get another profession. You cannot group everyone into 1 fits all because it is just not so. If my job is stamped out in a few years, well that has happened before and still around. The only thing you can count on is yourself, not a machine, not a company, just yourself. If you are suspicious, paranoid, etc., then do something else. Simple.


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I wish you well. I wish I could have stayed myself. nm
tttt
believe that your pay stayed the same.....
Even if you 'fly' ???? through the report, you still have to READ every word, so you cannot double or triple the line count.

Can you still use Expanders doing VR? I doubt.

Are you catching every mistake if you just FLY through the report?

CRAP !

I doubt any MT has ever stayed
that long at Heartland to enjoy his/her vacation!
Stayed with Medware
Heard only a couple left but were replaced quickly.  Now Medware has 3 new hospitals starting next month.  I applied for a shift lead position that just opened.  Very happy at Medware.
I stayed with them for less than 3 months.

Yes they are nice and yes they pay on time (they deduct $1 a week for your direct deposit)


There was never enough work.  Their system is clumsy compared to most, the bookkeeping/record keeping is awlful.  After having been off training and on full earnings for several weeks, they put me back on training wages because of a non-medical mistake.  They even did a QA rating on me and I had almost 99% but still lowered my pay across the board.  I was in absolute shock, gave notice and moved on.  I cannot work for a company that I cannot trust.   Good luck. 


I never stayed busy....
I worked on an ortho account and they kept running out of work, so I quit. They had way too many MTs in the typing pool. They do not assign the MTs doctors and you are in a pool so the work is on a first come first serve basis. Good luck! Not the job for me.
Sometimes I wonder why I even stayed in this business.. sm
I don't know how I did it back then, working at home on an electric typewriter, before computers and fabulous references, google, and the internet in general. All I had was Dorland's Medical Dictionary, samples, and pages and pages of notes for each of my 2 or 3 accounts. We could call the office if we got really stuck but that was it. I had a long hiatus between the 70s and the present. I have been back for over 7 years now and still cannot believe how easy it is now compared to then.

I also did QA for about a year a few years ago. Nope, not for me. Unbelievable the quality of the work that I very frequently saw, zero grammar and punctuation, absloute basic to this job even before medical terminology. I couldn't make my quota because I would at a glance see so many errors and spend too much time fixing them! Ai-yi-yi! It was awful. This was after all the offices closed and no one really had any communication with anyone anymore for the most part.

I am not a really high producer because I am a perfectionist. I research and try to leave as few blanks as possible, invest in good reference materials, have a thousands of Expanders for all kinds of reports, and try to keep up with the new rules for everything the best I can, not that I agree with them all. That's life I guess. I do love this job!

My hat goes off to all of you who have stayed as long as you have ...
I left Spheris a little over three years ago. It was one of the worst employment experiences that I've had in this industry. Poor benefits, low pay, terrible dictators, constant turnover in supervisors (with the last having no experience at all in MT'g). Leaving was the best decision I could have ever made, and I've never looked back.
Those who have stayed at the same hospital- sm
And just switched to VR are a different story. They are not the norm and I can see why they would be okay with it because they are accustomed to the account. The rest of us who go in cold and must spend an inordinate amount of time learning the account can't make any money and then the MTSO switches us and we have to learn it all over again. It doesn't work for us.
Ditto. I wish I had stayed with them. I had to quit because I
accepted a full-time job elsewhere. The full-time job turned out to be a bad joke. I went from three part-time IC jobs to one full-time employee job to NO job at all. It's really bitten me in the behind with bills and Christmas coming. Never again will I trust a recruiter or try to work as an employee for a national. transcriptionoutsourcing.com was the best of the bunch.
You stayed with Medware for 3 years and now you
state you didn't stay with them very long.  What is it?  I think we can all read between these lines, I know I can. 
Great company!! Wish I would have stayed but
needed benefits.
MDI Maryland I think has stayed clear so far. nm
s
If you stayed with her for years this treaetment, it
x
My god, and you stayed in this career while failing
the only one to blame as I can't imagine why you would think that summation of your career any step of the way was a success.  Per your description, sounds like nothing worked for you after a year or 2 at best. I've been in the biz the same length of time and experienced the complete opposite of your story.  I would never have endured what you have endured, as I would have had the common sense to realize that the job was not cut out for me or vice versa. You have thrown your entire life away on this industry, and yet came back again, and are on here bitter and spewing hatred at complete strangers to you.  Honestly, you need to re-evaluate - read your own life story and take some accountability, realizing that you should never ever have stayed in this industry. You have nothing to show for it, have lost everything per your own claims, so please reconsider and have the back half of your life mean something - anything, whatever is important to you.  Obviously this industry is not suited to you.  Please don't lump us all in with your experience.  I can't imagine many MTs have suffered as you have - why would we?  We would find a new line of work ASAP and move on with our lives, not sacrifice them as you have.  I can't even feel sorry for you as a reader - none of your story makes sense as to why you have persevered - its just a sad meaningless synopsis.
Worked there, wished I had stayed. sm
I left OSi thinking I could make more money somewhere else, which I did at first but not so now.  The sound quality was good. I liked the platform. QA helpful and nice.  They communicate a lot with e-mail and IM.  They will have conference calls if there is something on the the account that everyone needs to know about.
I stayed an IC....employee status is optional
x
You're happy your wages have stayed the
same, even though:

Gallon of milk, 1992: $2.78
2009: $3.75

Gallon of gas, 1992: $1.13
2009: $2.50+

Dozen eggs, 1992: $0.93
2009: $2.25

So your salary stayed the same while everything else skyrocketed... yay!

And according to the IIAP, the median salary for a 'secretary' in 1992 was around $25,000, and in 2005 was already up to around $40,000 (no stats listed for 2009 yet). So are you still feeling good about sliding backwards?
I was hired and started in 1 week. That is not a long set-up time. When I started with our local h
I needed to get a physical and go through orientation at the hospital which is only given two times per month. This is a 900-bed hospital, so it cannot be an unusual process. MQ took 2 weeks. KS took 1 week. SoftScript never got me started even after repeated calls and emails.

I have only been with KS for 9 months but would never put them in the same catagory as the others you mentioned. They are the best company I have worked for, and unfortunately, I have bounced around a little in the last 5 years.
I was hired and started in 1 week. That is not a long set-up time. When I started with our local h
I needed to get a physical and go through orientation at the hospital which is only given two times per month. This is a 900-bed hospital, so it cannot be an unusual process. MQ took 2 weeks. KS took 1 week. SoftScript never got me started even after repeated calls and emails.

I have only been with KS for 9 months but would never put them in the same catagory as the others you mentioned. They are the best company I have worked for, and unfortunately, I have bounced around a little in the last 5 years.
I was hired and started in 1 week. That is not a long set-up time. When I started with our local h
I needed to get a physical and go through orientation at the hospital which is only given two times per month. This is a 900-bed hospital, so it cannot be an unusual process. MQ took 2 weeks. KS took 1 week. SoftScript never got me started even after repeated calls and emails.

I have only been with KS for 9 months but would never put them in the same catagory as the others you mentioned. They are the best company I have worked for, and unfortunately, I have bounced around a little in the last 5 years.
The main reason I stayed with MQ through all the BS over the last years was the flexibility and that
will be gone. I worked more than 40 hours and so that will be gone as will the statutory bonus and to top this all off I got transferred to Amherst. Well talk about sucky.
OSI rocks. Easy lines. 900+ in 4 hours - now wish i would have stayed with them. nm
nm
I stayed 3 months and then bailed out. Ran out of work, lack of communication, etc. nm
s
I had the WORST foreign doc cardiac caths there! I only stayed a week. nm
, m
and they started
you at 9.5 cents per line???
Well let's see, I started my day
and have sat here all day to only have 60 some reports! Sad but true. I have 2 other PT jobs for this very reason. I only stay because when the work is there, the money is good. If it does not pick back up soon, I'm gone!
Just started...
using CS this past week, and it is very, very easy and practical to use. You should love it!
I started with TT at 8 cpl - sm
and I was told by Debbie that top pay was 8.5 cpl, not over.  Maybe it was the account I was on.  Don't know.  Just relaying what I was told.  I really did like TT.  I couldn't afford their benefits, and yes, it is my fault for not doing my homework.  I
i actually just started with DRC ..
and just completed my first week. When I was offered a position, I was told that everything counts - spaces, characters, everything in expander. Considering it was just my first week with getting used to the system as well as formatting and dictators, I did very well - a hair below where we need to be for full time, which is not bad considering I relistened to all my jobs before sending it. That is my method of learning. I am happy:)
when I first started with MQ which sm
was then Transcriptiosn Limited, for years, I was a subcontractor given a 1099 and they supplied all my equipment. Probably weren't suppose to. Well, I leased it. Maybe that make a difference.
I started at 10 cpl with MDI-MA
NM
I started out at
8, then they gave me 9 because the account I was on was HEAVY esl, then switched to VA, which also pays 9. Did fine on the ESL account but can't make the new production requriments on the VA account. Oh, full time employee status.
Just started, but so far ...
I'm not having too many problems other than the usual just getting used to new things. I don't think WebCorrect is that slow. I've worked on worse, that's for sure. I've checked their line counts and found them to be accurate and they do include spaces/65 char lines.

I haven't been paid yet, so I can't comment on that.

Communication is very good. You can IM a question any time. I've never waited long for an answer. You do have to pay attention to who you're supposed to IM though.

Everyone I've encountered is very nice and professional. I might change my mind later, but so far, I think it's working out well for me.
I just started with them, but so far
Mary has been extremely flexible with the schedule. Just ask her. I would be willing to bet she would work with you. She is the easiest boss I have worked for yet and I have worked for quite a few:)
I started with them just a little over

a month ago and can't afford the $125 to quit.


Do they still charge you $125 to ship back the computer if you're there for more than 45 days?


Welcome! I just started...
recently myself.  Does your account start with a C by chance?
started at ,12, now...
make 16.
I just started with SGS
So far I have no complaints.  Im fortunate, I have a very easy account.  I have not had any ESLs so far...well, I had one, but he had an English/British accent and was not difficult to understand.  I think the platform you work with is dependent on the account you are assigned to.  I am using a web-based platform and Word 2000.  As for direct deposit, I do believe they told me they have it, but I could have confused them with another company I was entertaining simultaneously.  Benefits are reasonable for individuals, the family price is a little pricey in my opinion at nearly $178 per pay.  I have to do some serious typing to justify that big of per pay deduction and Im hoping I can pull it off because I need those benefits as a single parent. 
just started
I am just starting with them. If you want to email me I will give you what I know.
Just started
I just started with them and so far I like it. My account has been great. Everyone has been very nice.
Just started with them myself

but have you tried cut and pasting document into a Word document just to get a rough idea?  Or is that what you did already?


Just started with them....
on a brand new account. It is a group of hospitals and there is evidently plenty of work. I am doing Emergency Department Reports, which there is a never ending supply of. I am brand new, so it has been kind of tough, but everyone is very helpful and encouraging.

That's all I know, hope it helps.
No, have not started yet, my first
year as IC. Employee prior to this with another company.
Just started...sm
I am working two jobs at this point as i wanted to feel things out before jumping in and the were understanding about that, number 1.  The testing was not bad at all and was in line with the actual work difficulty.  I do ortho so I don't know about the other testing, but I would imagine it isn't bad.  Thus far, I have had plenty of work, QA is WONDERFUL--best i have ever seen by far.  The internet platform takes a little getting used to if you are used to installed programs, but still not a major issue.
and when I started w/MQ they had 12,000+ MTs

Yes, that's exactly how it started out with me...sm
She told me my bank was rejected my direct deposits because my account was closed. I was actually dumb enough to believe her for a while and kept arguing with my bank. Please keep my posted about your situation. I've recently sent a copy of all the invoices she owes me to the hospital with a copy of the job numbers, etc. I doubt they'll pay me but they'll certainly see what kind of a business she's running. I cannot even imagine where she gets off thinking that she can get away with pulling this. I just find it incredible. Hope you have better luck than I did!!!
It has still not started.

After you get started
I almost took the test, but went for a job closer to where I live, in the same state.
I started at .09 CPL at WMX.
x
I just started with them...not so sure yet!
It's too early to tell about the company. I like the HR manager, recruiter, etc., but the QA manager is a little pushy....